Coronavirus

[AlanSubie4Life]

Yes, looks like we need more vaccinations to achieve herd immunity...including from people who don't think they are "at risk" themselves.

Mine, by the way, went very smoothly (Pfizer).

I guess this bump is arguably already happening (though in the face of overall decreasing rates, “above average” is still decreasing rates in most cases - I can't read the details of the article so not sure if the headline is accurate).

The outliers on the higher vaccination side all did really well on keeping cumulative natural infections low (WA, OR, CO, and ME all did relatively well per capita deaths), so you’d expect them to be outliers, and hopefully they can get immunity up to the levels of other states though higher vaccination rates. Would hate to see these states still have to get those infections to reach adequate immunity, so hopefully the vaccine push will continue and their state health authorities will recognize that they need higher levels of vaccination than other states, especially come winter.

Interesting paper on seasonality, quantifying it vs. other factors (the whole thread is good reading because it covers how seasonality compares to NPIs, etc.). Seems like we should fear this winter - but we have plenty of time to slam the door on things, if we can just get people vaccinated. Full approval, mandatory vaccination, and marketing of the vaccine cannot come soon enough - hopefully by early fall if things are expedited.

I do think it's good/promising that (so far) places like AZ and the south who use AC a LOT have not exploded in case levels so far (not that I would expect anything like last year - I just mean in relative terms an explosion). (I think that likely influences seasonal forcing and probably makes things worse as well, as many have said.) Will see how things go after the heat wave I guess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1404369971334070273

 

[eevee-fan]

I guess this bump is arguably already happening (though in the face of overall decreasing rates, “above average” is still decreasing rates in most cases - I can't read the details of the article so not sure if the headline is accurate).

The outliers on the higher vaccination side all did really well on keeping cumulative natural infections low (WA, OR, CO, and ME all did relatively well per capita deaths), so you’d expect them to be outliers, and hopefully they can get immunity up to the levels of other states though higher vaccination rates. Would hate to see these states still have to get those infections to reach adequate immunity, so hopefully the vaccine push will continue and their state health authorities will recognize that they need higher levels of vaccination than other states, especially come winter.

View attachment 673375

Interesting paper on seasonality, quantifying it vs. other factors (the whole thread is good reading because it covers how seasonality compares to NPIs, etc.). Seems like we should fear this winter - but we have plenty of time to slam the door on things, if we can just get people vaccinated. Full approval, mandatory vaccination, and marketing of the vaccine cannot come soon enough - hopefully by early fall if things are expedited.

I do think it's good/promising that (so far) places like AZ and the south who use AC a LOT have not exploded in case levels so far (not that I would expect anything like last year - I just mean in relative terms an explosion). (I think that likely influences seasonal forcing and probably makes things worse as well, as many have said.) Will see how things go after the heat wave I guess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1404369971334070273

The folks at FL DOH days DUH but the governor does not want to hear it.

 

[wdolson]

I guess this bump is arguably already happening (though in the face of overall decreasing rates, “above average” is still decreasing rates in most cases - I can't read the details of the article so not sure if the headline is accurate).

The outliers on the higher vaccination side all did really well on keeping cumulative natural infections low (WA, OR, CO, and ME all did relatively well per capita deaths), so you’d expect them to be outliers, and hopefully they can get immunity up to the levels of other states though higher vaccination rates. Would hate to see these states still have to get those infections to reach adequate immunity, so hopefully the vaccine push will continue and their state health authorities will recognize that they need higher levels of vaccination than other states, especially come winter.

View attachment 673375

Interesting paper on seasonality, quantifying it vs. other factors (the whole thread is good reading because it covers how seasonality compares to NPIs, etc.). Seems like we should fear this winter - but we have plenty of time to slam the door on things, if we can just get people vaccinated. Full approval, mandatory vaccination, and marketing of the vaccine cannot come soon enough - hopefully by early fall if things are expedited.

I do think it's good/promising that (so far) places like AZ and the south who use AC a LOT have not exploded in case levels so far (not that I would expect anything like last year - I just mean in relative terms an explosion). (I think that likely influences seasonal forcing and probably makes things worse as well, as many have said.) Will see how things go after the heat wave I guess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1404369971334070273

It would be a lot of data, but more interesting to look at the data by county rather than state. In Oregon and Washington the vaccination rate west of the Cascades has been very high, but there is a lot of vaccine resistance east of the Cascades.

 

[eevee-fan]

The folks at FL DOH days DUH but the governor does not want to hear it.

I saw the DOH website lady was running for congress. Hope she makes it in, always good to have a good, honest rep vs the alternative!

 

[wdolson]

I saw the DOH website lady was running for congress. Hope she makes it in, always good to have a good, honest rep vs the alternative!

I believe she's running in FL-1, which is currently held by Matt Gaetz.

 

[eevee-fan]

 

[shinytop]

FL-1 was won by Gaetz with 66%. And I don't think he ran a single ad. At least I saw none. We have some hope if the human trafficking case has enough substance we may well be rid of Gaetz. He would be reduced to just another remora attached to Trump's nether regions.

 

[eevee-fan]

A Top Virologist in China, at Center of a Pandemic Storm, Speaks Out

The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.

www.nytimes.com

So much for the conspiracy theory that the "bat lady" died from Covid... she is alive and well.

 

[Doggydogworld]

A Top Virologist in China, at Center of a Pandemic Storm, Speaks Out

The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.

www.nytimes.com

So much for the conspiracy theory that the "bat lady" died from Covid... she is alive and well.

I never heard anyone say Shi Zhengli was dead. She's quoted in the media fairly often. There was an early theory that a junior researcher in her lab died (or was 'disappeared'). Sleuths posted before and after official Wuhan Institute of Virology web page images showing the researcher being erased. Nobody could seem to track her (pretty sure it was a woman) down. I never heard what happened with that. Tracking some random person in China can't be easy, unless you're the CCP.

 

[Jeff N]

CDC now calls coronavirus Delta variant a 'variant of concern' | CNN

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now calls the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, also known as B.1.617.2, a "variant of concern."

www.cnn.com

Article highlights:

CDC officially declares Delta variant as a “variant of concern”.

Delta variant has risen to around 10% of new infections in the US as of June 5.

Delta variant on track to become dominant in US as soon as 3 weeks from now. It is 60% more fit/transmissible than the Alpha variant (which was, in turn, about ~50% more fit/transmissible than the original Wuhan variant).

Vaccination rates in a number of southern states are less than 35%. Southern states saw a large wave of infection that began last June/July as hot & often humid weather drew people indoors.

New Scottish study says Delta variant causes twice the rate of hospitalization versus Alpha variant.

Pfizer (and Moderna) have about 80% efficacy at preventing (symptomatic?) infection with the Delta variant but show ~96% efficacy at preventing hospitalization and death.

 

[eevee-fan]

CDC now calls coronavirus Delta variant a 'variant of concern' | CNN

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now calls the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, also known as B.1.617.2, a "variant of concern."

www.cnn.com

Article highlights:

CDC officially declares Delta variant as a “variant of concern”.

Delta variant has risen to around 10% of new infections in the US as of June 5.

Delta variant on track to become dominant in US as soon as 3 weeks from now. It is 60% more fit/transmissible than the Alpha variant (which was, in turn, about ~50% more fit/transmissible than the original Wuhan variant).

Vaccination rates in a number of southern states are less than 35%. Southern states saw a large wave of infection that began last June/July as hot & often humid weather drew people indoors.

New Scottish study says Delta variant causes twice the rate of hospitalization versus Alpha variant.

Pfizer (and Moderna) have about 80% efficacy at preventing (symptomatic?) infection with the Delta variant but show ~96% efficacy at preventing hospitalization and death.

I had only read about Pfizer and AZ showing efficacy. Are the Moderna results out too? I got Moderna and am definitely interest to know.

 

[Jeff N]

I had only read about Pfizer and AZ showing efficacy. Are the Moderna results out too? I got Moderna and am definitely interest to know.

I meant the Moderna results to be a guess. I don’t know if any official results are available yet but it’s very similar to Pfizer with similar results on previous variants and likely has a similar outcome against the Delta variant.

 

[cwerdna]

Hope this isn't a repeat since I haven't been keeping up here. While looking something up, I found Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants w/a table of all the Greek alphabet-named variants, so far. Obviously, many here have heard about the move away from country names to Greek letters.

Delta seems to be the one I hear most about in the news, but due to the capitalization, Delta Airlines always comes to my mind. I definitely didn't know the mappings of any of the ones currently under Variants of Interest. All of this has created more confusion, IMHO.

 

[cwerdna]

Vaccination rates in a number of southern states are less than 35%. Southern states saw a large wave of infection that began last June/July as hot & often humid weather drew people indoors.

You had me wondering about that and yeah, per U.S. COVID-19 vaccine tracker: See your state's progress, it is pretty darn low for fully vaccinated in some states. Mississippi is dead last at 28.1% fully vaxxed.

 

[JRP3]

Some conflicting statements around the Wuhan Lab are coming out

 

[eevee-fan]

Some conflicting statements around the Wuhan Lab are coming out

So, just like Q-Anon, it's all started by an American eccentric?

 

[jerry33]

So, just like Q-Anon, it's all started by an American eccentric?

Similar to the 1916 flu being started in Kansas, we won't know the real answer for sixty or more years. And it really doesn't matter because the goal should be prevention and cure--not blame because blaming someone doesn't change the necessary steps to prevent it's spreading. Of course, if you tell the population it's all a hoax or no worse than the annual flu, then you won't do anything about it.

 

[JRP3]

And it really doesn't matter because the goal should be prevention and cure--not blame because blaming someone doesn't change the necessary steps to prevent it's spreading.

Finding out what really happened could prevent a similar event from happening in the future. If it was dangerous lab work done under improper conditions that is something which could be corrected.

 

[jerry33]

Finding out what really happened could prevent a similar event from happening in the future. If it was dangerous lab work done under improper conditions that is something which could be corrected.

Agreed, but in these cases it takes a very long time for the actual facts to come out, by the time they do the technology and bureaucratic structures that caused the problem (assuming it's Lab related) have likely changed.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Hope this isn't a repeat since I haven't been keeping up here. While looking something up, I found Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants w/a table of all the Greek alphabet-named variants, so far. Obviously, many here have heard about the move away from country names to Greek letters.

Delta seems to be the one I hear most about in the news, but due to the capitalization, Delta Airlines always comes to my mind. I definitely didn't know the mappings of any of the ones currently under Variants of Interest. All of this has created more confusion, IMHO.

I read the Indian variant was called Delta and immediately thought "Ganges Delta".
But I think it's useful to know where not to go right now.

A couple of useful things about having the alphabetical names:
- they're in alphabetical order of recognition
- everybody gets to learn the Greek alphabet now, which will make it easier when studying math at university in the future.

Aside:
UK readers might know that the quiz Only Connect initially used Greek letters but switched to hieroglyphs. Give it a year and everybody will know the first six Greek letters.